Replace The Carbs: How To Cook Cauliflower Chahan (Fried Rice)

Lose a few extra pounds by replacing white rice with a creative imitation made of nothing but cauliflower.

Cauliflower rice perhaps doesn’t ring any bells right away (yet). The first thing that comes to mind is usually fried rice with a few chunks of the white veggie as an addition, but as you can guess, we’re not talking about actual “rice” here — we’re focusing on the creative imitation. In other words, instead of cooking rice, we’re cutting and frying cauliflower. The deal is that it looks almost like the real thing, but has about five times less the calories and the carbs.

A post shared by Kaylie | paleoglutenfree.com (@paleoglutenfreeeats) on Jan 15, 2018 at 8:25am PST

While the trend hasn’t taken on fully yet in Japan, cauliflower rice is winning popularity globally and on social media, having earned itself over 144,000 posts on Instagram (#cauliflowerrice) and hundreds of gorgeous-looking recipes on Pinterest already.

It is now a popular replacement for regular white rice for the health and weight-conscious ones: it has only 23~25kcal and 5g of carbs per 100 grams, while white rice has 130kcal and 28g, respectively. Cauliflower is also rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber, and it’s also filled with anti-cancerous and anti-inflammatory properties.

#rice #cauliflowerrice #calories

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I tried replacing rice with cauliflower after gaining weight over the Christmas holidays and noticed the weight loss within a week. Now I’m back on track and I’ll go back to eating regular rice as I love it too much to give it up completely, but this is a great replacement a few times a week if you’re trying to lose weight or cut the carbs in general.

Here’s how to make your own cauliflower chahan (fried rice) in less than 15 minutes! 

Ingredients:

• 1 medium-sized head cauliflower (green stems removed) grated or shredded into rice
• Vegetable oil, for frying
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
• Thumb size piece of ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into small cubes
• Handful of shredded purple cabbage
• Few handfuls of frozen peas or edamame
• Spring onion, finely diced
• 4 tablespoons of Japanese soy sauce
• Sesame oil, to season

To garnish (optional): 2 fried eggs, handful of seaweed (i.e. wakame, nori or dillisk), pickled cucumber, shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice) or chili flakes

Instructions:

1. In a non-stick frying pan heat a generous amount of oil over a medium to high heat and add the ginger, garlic, carrots and cabbage. Fry for a few minutes.
2. Toss in the cauliflower “rice” and peas to the infused oil and mix well.
3. Drizzle the soy sauce and sesame oil over the ingredients and mix well again.
4. Add the spring onion and take off the heat.
5. In a separate pan fry an egg (I prefer it with a runny yolk).
6. Serve the fried rice in a bowl topped with a fried egg and garnished with seaweed, pickled cucumber and shichimi togarashi.

Using this recipe? Share your photos with us via Facebook or Instagram with a hashtag #savvytokyorecipe . Enjoy! Xx